Campus programs engage in artistic initiative

Posted:

August 24, 2012

Georgia College civic engagement and community scholarship programs have united through the art of sewing.Georgia College civic engagement and community scholarship programs create the Engaged Scholars Quilt to represent ways students learn outside the classroom.

Approximately 35 campus organizations and initiatives stitched an art quilt this year to represent the various agents of engaged learning on campus.

The quilt will become the first artwork to adorn the walls of the university’s new Center for Engaged Learning opening during September.

“The Engaged Scholars Quilt is an artistic representation of the multiple ways in which Georgia College students, faculty and staff are learning beyond the classroom,” said Dr. Steven Jones, director of the Center for Engaged Learning. “The quilt also provides an effective visual response to the question of ‘What is engaged learning at Georgia College?’”

Jones supervises the center’s many organizations and projects, including the American Democracy Project, Nonprofit Leadership Alliance, service learning and leadership programs.

Spreading 4-by-4 feet each, the three-piece quilt features Georgia College programs where professors and students apply classroom lessons into community situations throughout the academic year.

“The quilt highlights student engagement,” said Gregg Kaufman, instructor in the Department of Government & Sociology and coordinator for Georgia College’s American Democracy Project. “Our programs make a difference in our society in so many unique ways that campus groups wanted to create a comprehensive visual of the great work happening around campus.”

The quilt displayed at this year’s American Democracy Project national meeting in San Antonio to showcase the university’s extensive community work.

The quilt will greet visitors entering the Center for Engaged Learning.

The center serves as a campus and community hub that supports Georgia College’s mission of providing excellence in teaching and student-centered scholarship.

“When campus and community members visit the center, they will see the culture we have formed through this engaged scholars quilt,” Kaufman said. “We look forward to working with Dr. Jones in the new center and having a home for the quilt.”

Visit gcsu.edu/quilt to view the quilt digitally and learn about the various campus organizations and initiatives it represents.

ABOUT GEORGIA COLLEGE: Georgia College, the state’s designated Public Liberal Arts University, combines the educational experience expected at esteemed private liberal arts colleges with the affordability of public higher education. Its four colleges – arts and sciences, business, education and health sciences – provide 6,600 undergraduate and graduate students with an exceptional learning environment that extends beyond the classroom, with hands-on involvement with faculty research, community service, study abroad and myriad internships.

Founded in 1889, Georgia College boasts one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation with Corinthian columns fronting red brick buildings and wide open green spaces. Georgia College also offers graduate education at the historic Jefferson building in downtown Macon, at Robins Air Force Base and online.